Book of Common Prayer
A song of David for the day of remembrance.[a]
38 Lord, don’t criticize me when you are angry.
Don’t discipline me in anger.
2 You have hurt me.
You punished me and hurt me deeply.
3 You punished me severely, so my whole body is sore.
I sinned, and now all my bones hurt.
4 My guilt is like a heavy burden.
I am sinking beneath its weight.
5 I did a foolish thing,
and now I have infected sores that stink.
6 I am bent and bowed down.
I am depressed all day long.
7 I am burning with fever,
and my whole body hurts.
8 I hurt so much I cannot feel anything.
My pounding heart makes me scream!
9 My Lord, you heard my groaning.
You can hear my sighs.
10 My heart is pounding.
My strength is gone, and I am going blind.[b]
11 Because of my sickness,
my friends and neighbors will not visit me;
my family will not come near me.
12 My enemies say bad things about me.
They are spreading lies and rumors.
They talk about me all the time.
13 But I am like a deaf man and cannot hear.
I am like someone who cannot speak.
14 I am like those who cannot hear what people are saying about them.
I cannot answer to prove my enemies wrong.
15 Lord, you must defend me.
Lord my God, you must speak for me.
16 That’s why I prayed, “Don’t let my enemies smile at my pain.
Full of pride, they will laugh if I stumble and fall.”
17 I know I am guilty of doing wrong.
I cannot forget my pain.
18 Lord, I told you about the evil I have done.
I am sorry for my sin.
19 But my enemies are alive and healthy,
and they have told many lies.
20 I did nothing but good,
and they paid me back with evil.
I try to do what is right,
but that only makes them turn against me.
21 Lord, don’t leave me.
My God, stay close to me.
22 Come quickly and help me.
My Lord, you are the one who saves me.
Daleth
25 I lie here like a dying man.
Say the word, and I will live again.[a]
26 I told you about my life, and you answered me.
Now, teach me your laws.
27 Help me understand your instructions,
and I will think about your wonderful teachings.[b]
28 I am sad and tired.
Say the word, and make me strong again.
29 Don’t let me live a lie.
Guide me with your teachings.
30 I have chosen to be loyal to you.
I respect your laws.
31 I follow your rules closely, Lord.
Don’t let me be put to shame.
32 I do my best to follow your commands,
because you are the one who gives me the desire.
He
33 Lord, teach me your laws,
and I will always follow them.
34 Help me understand your teachings,
and I will follow them.
Obeying them will be my greatest desire.
35 Help me follow your commands,
because that makes me happy.
36 Give me the desire to follow your rules,
not the desire to get rich.
37 Don’t let me look at worthless things.
Help me live your way.
38 Do what you promised me, your servant,
so that people will respect you.
39 Take away the shame I fear.
Your laws are good.
40 See how much I want to obey your instructions!
Be good to me, and let me live.
Waw
41 Lord, show me your faithful love.
Save me, as you promised.
42 Then I will have an answer for those who make fun of me
for trusting what you say.
43 Let me always say what is true.
I depend on your judgment to be fair.
44 I will follow your teachings forever and ever.
45 So I will live in freedom,
because I do my best to know your instructions.
46 I will discuss your rules with kings,
and no one will embarrass me.
47 What joy your commands give me!
How I love them!
48 Not only do I love your commands, but I also honor them.
I will study your laws.
God Calls Isaiah to Be a Prophet
6 In the year that King Uzziah died,[a] I saw the Lord sitting on a very high and wonderful throne. His long robe filled the Temple. 2 Seraph angels stood around him. Each angel had six wings. They used two wings to cover their faces, two wings to cover their bodies, and two wings to fly. 3 The angels were calling to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord All-Powerful. His Glory fills the whole earth.” 4 The sound was so loud that it caused the frame around the door to shake, and the Temple was filled with smoke.[b]
5 I was frightened and said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough to speak to him.[c] But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.”
6 There was a fire on the altar. One of the Seraph angels used a pair of tongs to take a hot coal from the fire. Then the angel flew to me with it in his hand. 7 Then he touched my mouth with the hot coal and said, “When this hot coal touched your lips, your guilt was taken away, and your sins were erased.[d]”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Who can I send? Who will go for us?”
So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 Then the Lord said, “Go and tell the people, ‘Listen closely, but don’t understand. Look closely, but don’t learn.’ 10 Confuse them. Make them unable to understand what they hear and see. If you don’t do this, they might really look with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their minds. Then they might come back to me and be healed!”
11 Then I asked, “Lord, how long should I do this?”
He answered, “Do this until the cities are destroyed and all the people are gone. Do this until there is no one left living in the houses and the land is destroyed and empty.”
12 The Lord will make the people go far away, and there will be large areas of empty land in the country. 13 A tenth of the people will be allowed to stay in the land, but it will be destroyed again. They will be like an oak tree. When the tree is chopped down, a stump is left. This stump will be a very special seed that will grow again.
1 Greetings from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
To the church of those in Thessalonica, who are in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We thank God for you always. And that’s what we should do, because you give us good reason to be thankful: Your faith is growing more and more. And the love that every one of you has for each other is also growing. 4 So we tell the other churches of God how proud we are of you. We tell them how you patiently continue to be strong and have faith, even though you are being persecuted and are suffering many troubles.
Paul Tells About God’s Judgment
5 This is proof that God is right in his judgment. He wants you to be worthy of his kingdom. Your suffering is for that kingdom. 6 God will do what is right. He will punish those who are causing you trouble. 7 And he will bring relief to you who are troubled. He will bring it to you and to us when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven for all to see, together with his powerful angels. 8 He will come with burning fire to punish those who don’t know God—those who refuse to accept the Good News about our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with a destruction that never ends. They will not be allowed to be with the Lord but will be kept away from his great power. 10 This will happen on the day when the Lord Jesus comes to receive honor with his holy people. He will be admired among all who have believed. And this includes you because you believed what we told you.
11 That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to help you live the good way he wanted when he chose you. The goodness you have makes you want to do good. And the faith you have makes you work. We pray that with his power God will help you do these things more and more. 12 Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of you, and you will be honored because of him. This can happen only by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A Woman Caught in Adultery
53 Then they all left and went home.
8 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he went back to the Temple area. The people all came to him, and he sat and taught them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in bed with a man who was not her husband. They forced her to stand in front of the people. 4 They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The Law of Moses commands us to stone to death any such woman. What do you say we should do?”
6 They were saying this to trick Jesus. They wanted to catch him saying something wrong so that they could have a charge against him. But Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. 7 The Jewish leaders continued to ask him their question. So he stood up and said, “Anyone here who has never sinned should throw the first stone at her.” 8 Then Jesus stooped down again and wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard this, they began to leave one by one. The older men left first, and then the others. Jesus was left alone with the woman standing there in front of him. 10 He looked up again and said to her, “Where did they all go? Did no one judge you guilty?”
11 She answered, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “I don’t judge you either. You can go now, but don’t sin again.”[a]
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International